People lined up to be tested in St. Eustatius.
ST. EUSTATIUS--The public entity St. Eustatius strongly advises Statia’s residents to remain cautious by respecting hygiene guidelines and getting tested and vaccinated, while the government further eased the COVID-19 measures as of Tuesday, February 1.
A maximum of 25 persons, instead of 15, are allowed to be inside restaurants and bars, or 50 per cent of the full capacity. Dancing is still not allowed.
Schools, day-care centres and out-of-school organisations can allow 25 children per class instead of 15. The easing of measures is not yet appliable to supermarkets and non-essential businesses.
Public gatherings will be once again possible. However, a maximum of 25 persons is allowed or 50 per cent of the venue’s capacity. For indoor and outdoor sport activities a maximum gathering of 25 persons is applicable.
The government commissioners repeated their call to residents to be vaccinated and tested. “Considering the high number of infections worldwide, and the contagiousness of the Omicron variant, it is impossible to get and keep Statia COVID-free. Therefore, we have a shared responsibility to protect the vulnerable groups in our community. These are the elderly and persons with underlying health conditions,” says Government Commissioner Alida Francis.
The virus has spread in Statia and it will be around in the coming months. “The overall vaccination percentage of the population is still too low [at – Ed.] 50 per cent. The risk during an outbreak is that unvaccinated elderly and other vulnerable groups on our island run the risk of getting infected, so they should be protected, but we must also further ease the measures as these are a burden to our economy.”
Economy
The pressure on the economy is another reason for Statia to ease the COVID-19 measures, while remaining cautious and taking steps to protect the population. This approach is aimed at keeping a balance between public health and economic development.
“Additional nursing staff provided through the Ministry of Public Health, Welfare and Sport VWS are now working on the island. The capacity in the healthcare sector is adequate. If needed, St. Maarten can accommodate patients from Statia as St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) has enough capacity. COVID-19 patients will be transferred to St. Maarten in case of deteriorating health in an early stage to assure the optimal care. This is already the case these past weeks since the outbreak,” assured the government commissioner.
Francis said the number of cases is stabilising, infections are less severe, and symptoms are generally very mild. In addition, the number of persons needing hospital care is very low. Fewer than two per cent needed hospitalisation up to now.
For non-essential businesses, such as nail salons, barbershops and hair salons, nothing changes yet. These can only accept two customers at a time, with an appointment. Workers in close-contact professions must always wear face masks and gloves.
Supermarkets and other essential businesses can only allow a maximum of 10 persons inside at one same time. Smaller shops can allow five persons.
The entry policy has also changed as of February 1. All countries are now considered high risk. The requirement of a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test within 48 hours before departure to Statia will remain in effect. However, the mandatory entry test for vaccinated persons will not be applicable anymore.
All non-vaccinated persons entering Statia from a high-risk country must stay in quarantine for seven days. Vaccinated persons will be submitted to monitoring for five days. A mandatory antigen test at the end of the quarantine or monitoring period is still applicable.
Unvaccinated persons from a low-risk country must go into quarantine for seven days with a mandatory exit antigen test on the seventh day.
Testing and vaccination
Vaccination is possible twice a week on Wednesday and Friday. Testing is possible daily. After a person is tested positive, seven-day isolation is mandatory, instead of the current 10 days. On the seventh day, persons can be released after a negative antigen test. If the test is positive, a re-test will be done every three days, until there is a negative result.
If someone was in contact with a person who tested positive, seven days of quarantine, instead of 10 days, with an antigen test on the seventh day is required. This applies to both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals.
The easing of measures was decided upon after careful deliberation with the Ministry of VWS, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment RIVM, the Public Health Department, the Crisis Team, the Island Council, St. Eustatius Business Association, the tourism and hospitality sector, school principals and management and church leaders.
